Alcohol awareness goes online for students

By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor

October 2nd, 2009

More than 1,700 college students reportedly die every year from alcohol-related injuries, and higher-education officials are hoping to trim that number with online alcohol awareness courses that inform and test students on the adverse effects of excess drinking.

The University of Kansas is one of the latest schools to require its students to complete a web-based, interactive lesson on alcohol’s effects on the body. The requirement–designed for students 22 and younger–was announced in August, five months after two alcohol-related student deaths at the Lawrence, Kansas, campus.

The university also changed its reporting policy–now telling parents when a student commits a second alcohol violation–after one student died in a campus fraternity house, and another was found in a residence hall.

Kansas has joined a growing movement among college administrators to mandate alcohol awareness programs. Outside the Classroom, a Boston-based company that addresses public health issues, designed an online alcohol prevention program called AlcoholEdu, which is used at more than 500 colleges and universities nationwide, according to the company’s web site.